Jonty, Lance rescue SA

South Africa, who won the first Test in the five-match series by an innings and 21 runs, were 253 for six when bad light forced an early close to the day.

Left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell snapped up two wickets in the second session, accounting for captain Hansie Cronje (2) and Daryll Cullinan (58), to help give England the upper hand after they put the home country in to bat.

The balance was tilted as Klusener sped to his half-century off 54 balls and Rhodes provided solid support, reaching his 50 in 125 deliveries.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings): G Kirsten c Hussain b Caddick 15, H Gibbs run out (Flintoff) 48, J Kallis c Caddick b Silverwood 1, D Cullinan st Stewart b Tufnell 58, H Cronje cFlintoff b Tufnell 2, J Rhodes c Atherton b Flintoff 50, L Klusener batting 63, S Pollock batting 1; Extras (b2 lb3 w1 nb9) 15. Total (for six wickets) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-28 2-57 3-87 4-91 5-146 6-252
Bowling: Gough 13-1-72-0 (1w 5nb), Caddick 21-4-66-1 (2nb), Silverwood 13.1-4-23-1 (2nb), Tufnell 25-5-69-2, Vaughan 3-0-16-0, Flintoff 1-0-2-1.

Williams slams 105 n.o.
CALCUTTA: West Zone left-hander Connor Williams struck an unbeaten 105 on the opening day of their Duleep Trophy semi-final match against East Zone at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

Williams and Wasim Jaffer (69, 12×4)) added 156 runs for the first wicket. Williams hit 14 fours and a six in his 362-minute so far.

Scoreboard

West Zone (1st innings): Wasim Jaffer c Karim b Zaman 69, Connor Williams batting 105, Abhijit Kale c Karim b Chatterjee 24, Amol Muzumdar batting 26. Extras (B 1, lb 7, w 5, nb 17): 30. Total (for 2 wickets, in 91 overs): 254
Fall of wickets:1-156, 2-197
Bowling: Zaman 25-7-65-1, Barik 14-1-53-0, Chatterjee 24-7-52-1, Satpathy 14-4-31-0, Sukhwinder 14-3-45-0

Sodhi misses ton

GUWAHATI: North Zone wrested the early advantage against Central Zone piling up 302 for five in the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy at the Mailgaon Railway Stadium here on Thursday.

Scoreboard

North Zone (1st innings): Ashu Dani c Mudgal b Bangar 53, Vikram Rathore c Jyoti Yadav b Hirwani 70, Reetinder Sodhi c Mudgal b Hirwani 88, Pankaj Dharmani c Gandhe b Hirwani 52, Rajiv Nayyar batting 13, Virender Shewag b Gandhe 10, Dinesh Mongia batting 2. Extras (nb 13): 13. Total (for five wickets): 302
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-170, 3-260, 6-282, 5-298
Bowling: Zaidi 15-0-68-0, Bangar 20-3-74-1, Gandhe 13-1-55-1, Hirwani 25-2-72-3, Pandey 17-4-33-0.